The ranking-type Delphi method is well suited as a means for consensus-building by using a series of questionnaires to collect data from a panel of geographically dispersed participants. This method allows a group of experts to systematically approach a particular task or problem. While information systems researchers have been using this method for almost three decades, no research to date has...

BACKGROUND There is ample evidence of important symptomatic efficacy of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) inhibition in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Moreover, studies suggest that anti-TNF could be considered as the first disease controlling antirheumatic treatment (DC-ART) for AS. OBJECTIVE To determine precisely which patients with AS are most likely to benefit from anti-TNFalpha trea...

In practice, many practical problems occur in uncertain environments, especially in situations that involve human subjective evaluation such as that in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This paper presents a practical multi-criteria group decision-making method for decision making under uncertainty. To handle the randomness and fuzziness of individual judgments, the normal Cloud model, grou...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to define the minimum academic content required for pediatricians to recognize the risk of kernicterus. METHODS A questionnaire was developed on the basis of American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines seeking to develop a consensus for pediatricians in training on the theoretical content about neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. To validate the instrument, we...

Objectives There remains limited consensus regarding the definition and conceptual basis of exercise addiction. An understanding of the factors motivating maintenance of addictive exercise behavior is important for appropriately targeting intervention. The aims of this study were twofold: first, to establish consensus on features of an exercise addiction using Delphi methodology and second, to ...

A farm food safety risk assessment tool for fresh produce and salmon farms were developed and the Delphi-based approach was utilised to identify and aggregate the opinions of experts on the food safety hazards and diseases faced in the farms while simultaneously certifying the scientific contents of the tool. The expert panels also serve to validate the methodology used in the farm food safety ...

This research study examined the best interactive practices of effective health care education faculty from six major universities that offer online health care programs. Program directors from six major universities identified effective faculty, from which twelve faculty members were interviewed to uncover effective practices and an additional thirty faculty participated in a Delphi study to i...

This paper discusses the notion of collective intelligence through the application of the Wideband Delphi method as a way to obtain convergence among a group of experts. The specific application is the definition and calibration of cost estimation models that use data collected from experts as part of their calibration. Convergence is important in this case because companies need to commit to c...